Cisco Defends Switch Turf

To Grab Share Back From Arista, Networking Giant Offers New High-Speed Gear

By

Don Clark

Updated Sept. 18, 2012 8:23 p.m. ET

Cisco Systems Inc. watched as a start-up led by two of its former executives grabbed much of the market for high-speed networking gear favored by Wall Street traders. Now the Silicon Valley giant is preparing to fight back.

The target is Arista Networks Inc., a closely held company whose chairman is Andy Bechtolsheim, a celebrated hardware designer known for co-founding Sun Microsystems Inc. and becoming one of Google Inc.'s first...